Many of us are celebrating Christmas frugally this year. We are “making the list, checking it twice” to save a few dollars here, more dollars there.

So a favorite food magazine’s frugal (ahem) entertaining ideas caught my attention. Granted, the article was titled "Luxury for Less" – but still, it suggested we substitute American caviar for Russian beluga and truffle oil for scrapings of fresh truffles. “We get it,” the story opened. And they do, if luxury is a necessity. But luxury is luxury – and luxury not a necessity.

Me, I’m baking less this year, an accommodation to fewer cookie monsters within cookie-grabbing distance, and with less-expensive ingredients, in nod to life-strapped budgets.

But baking at all? It’s a luxury.

It’s a luxury to collect fresh cranberries and butter and sugar in my warm kitchen as Christmas carols waft in from the other room. It’s a luxury to put out cups of tea and a plate of fresh cookies and have loved ones reach out to enjoy them.

I feel rich beyond words.

This recipe goes way-way back to cookie swaps hosted by my dear friend Lisa (who much to my delight, now has the great blog My Own Sweet Thyme!) when we both lived in Dallas. I haven’t made the recipe in years but was attracted to the easy ingredient list, the use of less-expensive fresh cranberries versus dried cranberries, getting five dozen (and since then, even seven dozen) cookies from a single stick of butter – and most especially, the festive color! It’s going to be my contribution to my own cookie swap on Saturday.

So many Christmas cookie recipes seem to require chilling the dough before rolling or baking. This one – hooray, another hat-tip to simplicity – actually works better if the cookies are baked immediately after mixing the dough. If the dough rests, the cranberry begins to stain the dough, resulting in a slightly muddy color, although no change in flavor.

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream the butter and sugars until it's the consistency of wet sand, scraping the bowl and beaters once or twice. Beat in the milk, orange juice concentrate and egg until well combined.

Separately, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, then blend well into the butter mixture.

With a wooden spoon, stir in the pecans and cranberries.

With a small cookie scoop, scoop out dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment; the cookies don't spread but do leave some space between them for "breathing room".

ALANNA's TIPS Skim milk works fine, so does buttermilk. The original recipe called for two tablespoons of orange juice. But I like to use orange juice concentrate, it bumps up the orange essence considerably. Once I added the zest of an orange too. This added to the orange-y-ness but is optional, for sure. Here's a quick way to toast pecans. Just put them in the oven while it preheats, as soon as you can smell the pecans, pull them out! If you have access to black walnuts, they're wonderful in these cookies! Do chop the pecans by hand so they don't turn to mush. But even a mini food processor works for chopping the fresh cranberries. The original recipe suggested greasing the cookie sheets. The dough’s sugar content is quite high so something underneath is a good idea. I've successfully used parchment (my favorite), a silicone mat and a good-quality non-stick baking sheet. No cookie scoop? No problem. Just use two spoons (one to scoop and one to scrape) to drop the dough onto the baking sheet. The cookies will be be slightly more rustic in appearance but the taste won't suffer. It's also possible to roll the dough into balls with your fingers although please, do know that the dough is quite sticky.

Comments

Interestingly, I just made these last week. I found the recipe in the "Betty Crocker Cooky Book." I think I'd make them again, but experiment with cutting back the flour-- I found they were a bit cakey for my taste.

I made these after we talked about them. I don't usually like fruit in cookies but I had leftover cranberries and your recommendation so I thought I'd give them a try. They turned out pretty and delicious! I loved the tangy flavor, the nutty crunch, the small size and even the texture. I baked one pan until it was a little more brown than I hoped for but that batch was a little crisper too and that was nice. Thanks for sharing a great recipe and so many fond memories!

3 cups of flour???I thought that sounded odd, so I looked in other cookbooks, and no drop cookies had more than 2 cups (with the similar ratio of butter, egg, etc), in fact most had less.I used 2 cups ( not fluffed) and they're still pretty dry.

Hi Anonymous - I'm sorry you've had trouble with the recipe. I waited to post your comment until I could answer with some confidence.

I believe that three cups IS the right amount. I can't put my hands on the original recipe but I checked with my friend Lisa, who made them right after I posted this (her link is in the story and in a comment as well) and she is certain she used 3 cups as well.

But then again, I note that another reader had an issue with dryness with a similar recipe from a Betty Crocker cookbook so something does seem to be going on. I hope to make these tomorrow to check the recipe. Other things CAN make a difference but I'd like to get to the bottom of this.

My website is 90% long-time, made-many-times recipes. This cookie I've made just once that I remember but the recipe came from a friend who shared them at a cookie swap and of course, again, my friend Lisa.

Thanks for letting me know so that I can work it out. I remember getting so frustrated with a cookie calling for macadamia nuts from Cooking Light. I figured out the problem and even wrote Cooking Light but the recipe was never corrected. It's here, if you want a another good cranberry cookie recipe, Cranberry Mac Morsels.

Maria ~ One ad provider uses ads that "expand" when your mouse hovers over top. Move your mouse off the ad, it will drop back. They're controversial, these ads, thanks for letting me know that it was hard to figure out how to get rid of the ad.

I came across this cookies yesterday when I had a bag of fresh cranberries that needed to be used up. The cookies are absolutely wonderful! I say this as someone who is not only usually lukewarm about cookies, but rarely wants anything sweet if it doesn't have chocolate. These were a hit with my partner and neighbors and I'm planning to make these again for Thanksgiving and probably even Christmas.

Like the above commenter, three cups of flour seemed a bit much when I first added it, but after a minute my hand mixer incorporated it and the dough was the perfect consistency to scoop out. I did measure the flour by weight, though, as I'm too impatient to do the scoop and level method. Thanks for including the metric measurements!

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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. But I also love hearing your reactions, your curiosity, even your concerns! When you've made a recipe, I especially love to know how it turned out, what variations you made, what you'll do differently the next time. ~ Alanna